The Battle Is Over, We Have Won The War

I want to recap momentarily. I want to look back and highlight the events we will call the visa war.

October 2010 marks the date. Liz and I had been praying hard (along with others I am sure) about our calling to Brazil. I have always been a big believer in GOING, as Christ demanded in Matthew 28:16-20. Here was the thing though - we were poor, broke youth pastors at a small church in backwoods SC. We had NOTHING to go on, well, except for our faith.... My father-in-law and I were talking one night. At this point, I was ready to give up and go join the NAVY or something, anything. Our conversation concluded with him saying, "if you have a plane ticket tomorrow, you'll know where God wants you to be." Yeah right, huh?! The next morning we got a call. A missionary from Moldova needed an address to send us the money God had given her to get us to Brazil...... A missionary, who, is in the same financial situation as us is given money for us on the other side of the world to get us to the opposite side of the equator..... Needless to say, Liz and I were ready and equipped to GO. Remember Proverbs 16:9? We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. We had originally planned to go to Manaus - God had something else in mind.

I left in October eager to see what God had for us - my passport was ready from my trip to Ethiopia back in 09. My Brazilian visa was ready to go back from my trip with Pastor Jimmy and the Strength Team in 09. I landed in Manaus with Matthew 7:7 running a marathon in my head.

While Liz and I had all the intentions in the world to be in Manaus, God had our steps directed in,well, another direction.

While I was seeking, knocking, and asking in Manaus - I took a trip over to Belem to visit a school called AVA. Before leaving though, I called the school from my Skype account and asked them if I could bring anything with me - the director rudely said "some Bibles". I know now that the director wasn't intentionally being rude, but he did forget to pick me up - in a place I had NO CLUE where I was at.... With a backpack full of Bibles, I showed up for the first time at AVA. If you get a chance - read the blog post on the Jamba fruit.... it was the sign I knew God wanted us at AVA.

I got back to the States and we started the visa process. First, we had to get Liz's temporary visa so she could come check it out here. A trip to Atlanta, and it was done and we were both ready to confirm our call to Belem. Before we came though, we had to gather some documents, get them signed by the Secretary of State, get them officiated by the Brazilian Consulate, and bring them down with us. It was crazy, but we got it all done. Right before we left for Brazil, we found out that the local police record was not enough. We had to get an FBI background check done. This is where the miracle came in.

FBI Background checks take an average of 12 weeks to process and be returned - that's 3 months. It was the end of November at this point and we had to have documents that took 12 weeks to process and get it done by January the 1st. While we were in Brazil, less than a week after applying for the background check, they came in. When we landed in Miami, Liz's mom called us and said that we had a little problem. The Fed Ex guy apparently went to leave the documents in the backyard, got scared because of the 10 German Shepherds that were back there, dropped the envelope containing our background check and ran off. All the while, the dogs were playing a fun game of destroy our FBI records - that we had to have and take 12 weeks to get. I called the FBI and explained the situation. A guy named Michael answered the phone and said he was in the business of doing the impossible- He reprocessed our request, over-nighted the documents to us, and we got them by 10 a.m. the next morning! A 24 week governmental process in less than a week....... ponder that one for a moment...... I am pretty sure that dude was the Archangel......

The documents we had to have were complete, translated, and submitted.... By January 19th 2011, we were on our way to Work Visas. Impossible after impossible after impossible - nothing is impossible with our God! Liz and I received the email yesterday that the battle was over! If you have kept up with the blog you will know the events that have occurred since the start of this year. Our visas have been published on the official website. The battle is over! Chalk 1 more on God's score....

At this point we know God has an awesome plan for us here in Belem. Liz and I have given up a lot, fought hard, been humbled, but stand here ready and willing to do all the things God has for us to do here in Brazil. I pray that you consider joining us. We need prayer warriors, we need money for food, Bibles and supplies, we need the body of Christ to stand with us and win the city of Belem over for the Kingdom of God! If you explore the tabs at the top of our site you can get all the information on how to stand with us for God's Glory and Kingdom Growth in Belem, Brazil!